The Friday 56 (214) & Book Beginnings: A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

This high-tension odyssey follows three men in an awesome search for the mysterious center of the earth-as they risk their chances of ever returning to the surface alive.

Beginning: "Looking back to all that has occurred to me since that eventful day, I am scarcely able to believe in the reality of my adventures."

56: "All this while we were advancing at a rapid pace."

Comments: I really liked A Journey to the Center of the Earth. What are you reading this week?

Upcoming Music I'm Waiting For Part 2 (2022)

Since its March (already three months into 2022), I thought I would revisit the subject of upcoming music. Some more stuff has been announced, and a couple of the albums I’m very excited for.  

Today is also the 15th of March, which is Our Thoughts Precisely's blogiversary. The blog is officially 9 years old! I never have anything specifically planned for this day, but I thought I would mention it here. Thanks again to all the people who have stopped by, read our posts, and left blog comments. 

Now, onto the list....

 

• Serpentina by Banks (April 8, 2022): Recently, there has been a trickle of singles coming out from Banks. Serpentina has finally been announced, and I like what I’ve heard so far. So I’m very excited to see what’s in store from the follow-up to 2019’s III.

• Back From the Dead by Halestorm (May 6, 2022): It’s been a while since I regularly followed Halestorm’s music, but I’m anticipating their next album, Back From the Dead.
• Explosions by Three Days Grace (May 6, 2022): Three Days Grace was a band I used to listen to when I was younger. I’ve been listening to some of their recent stuff, and I’m excited for this album.
• Palaces by Flume (Mary 20, 2022): I liked Flume’s 2016 album, Skin, so I had to add Palaces to this list.
• Other albums with limited information (TBA; To Be Announced): Saweetie, Rina Sawayama, Kimbra, Cardi B.

That’s it for now. As always, my lists are ever changing. So who knows, maybe there will be part three of "upcoming music I’m waiting for" later in the year. We’ll see.

What upcoming albums are you waiting for?

Music Monday (191): MØ, Oleksa Lozowchuk, Lovisa Bergdahl, Ariana Gillis

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: I'm still listening to Motordrome. Another one of my favorite songs is Wheelspin. It's one of the best tracks from the album.

Adri: I have been playing Horizon: Forbidden West, and I adore the soundtrack so much. One of the earliest cutscenes played the song In The Flood by Oleksa Lozowchuk and Lovisa Bergdahl featuring Ariana Gillis. And my second pick is Lovisa's version of In The Flood. 

What are you listening to this week?

I Listened to Motordrome by MØ

 

It’s been a while since MØ’s last album (Forever Neverland came out in 2018). So, another one of my most anticipated albums of the first part of 2022 was Motordrome. I didn’t closely follow the singles leading up to the January 28th release date, but I was still eager to dive into this album.

Motordrome is MØ’s third studio album. There were no features, but honestly it wasn’t needed. Motordrome was a solid foray into pop music, with touches of electronic and a few beats that felt like a brief reference to the sound of MØ’s first studio album, No Mythologies to Follow. It was so good. Some of my favorites included Live to Survive, Wheelspin, New Moon, Goosebumps, and Hip Bones.

Don’t get me wrong though, Motordrome is its own thing. MØ clearly had something to say, and the album feels as if it’s telling a story to its listeners and is, overall, carried by a different tone in a lot of aspects. It was still markedly a MØ album, and there was a lot to enjoy about Motordrome.

A Thousand Steps Into Night by Traci Chee

Title: A Thousand Steps Into Night

Series: n/a
Author: Traci Chee
Source/Format: NetGalley (Publisher); eARC
More Details: Fantasy; Young Adult
Publisher/Publication Date: Clarion Books; March 1, 2022

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

In the realm of Awara, where gods, monsters, and humans exist side by side, Miuko is an ordinary girl resigned to a safe, if uneventful, existence as an innkeeper’s daughter. But when Miuko is cursed and begins to transform into a demon with a deadly touch, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life. Aided by a thieving magpie spirit and continuously thwarted by a demon prince, Miuko must outfox tricksters, escape demon hunters, and negotiate with feral gods if she wants to make it home again. But with her transformation comes power and freedom she never even dreamed of, and she’ll have to decide if saving her soul is worth trying to cram herself back into an ordinary life that no longer fits her… and perhaps never did.

It’s been a while since I last read anything by Traci Chee, but I was eager to check out her latest young adult novel: A Thousand Steps Into Night. Books that deal with curses are sometimes my favorite thing. There are many ways to interpret what constitutes as a curse. In one of Traci Chee’s newsletters, she talked about some of the work that went into A Thousand Steps Into Night, and I was interested in seeing how that would come in to play.

As a standalone, I liked this story. There were a lot of strong aspects about it including the endearing characters—Miuko as well as some surprising allies—to the world building and the major turning points that culminated in an excellent and satisfying conclusion.

The opening chapters got the ball rolling at a fast pace, but it was an effective opener for a story that barely had time to slow down and breath. There was a lot of ground to cover though, and so traveling made up a good chunk of the story. However, those bits were good, as it showed the setting through Miuko’s eyes as she experienced it. At times, the outward factors seemed to work against the characters, and there was literally danger around every corner from the ordinary and the supernatural. There were a few comical moments, but the tension (from the race against time and the ensuing chase) was the defining tone of A Thousand Steps Into Night.

So the characters: I liked them. The secondary cast, as well as the villain, were detailed and complex. The villain in particular had a clear motive, and his actions were a foil to Miuko’s ultimate quest.

All the hallmarks of a coming of age tale were present with Miuko (the sole POV) having to figure out who she wanted to be after being cursed. Awara was a society that was restrictive to women, and that was one of the big themes of the story. Add in a curse, and you’re pretty much everything they don’t want. So with her banishment from the only places and family she’s ever known, she was left in a difficult situation. Her endurance was admirable, but I also liked when she finally got some support and built those friendships she’d craved for. In the end, I appreciated Miuko’s characterization, and her story was so satisfying to watch playout.

A Thousand Steps Into Night was an interesting and enjoyable read.

About the author....

Traci Chee is a New York Times best-selling author and National Book Award Finalist. An all-around word geek, she loves book arts and art books, poetry and paper crafts, though she also dabbles at bonsai gardening, egg painting, and hosting potluck game nights for family and friends. She studied literature and creative writing at UC Santa Cruz and earned a master of arts degree from San Francisco State University. Traci grew up in a small town with more cows than people, and now feels most at home in the mountains, scaling switchbacks and happening upon hidden highland lakes. She lives in California with her fast-fast dog.

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Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Clarion Books) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!